Of Food. 489 



wholesome; and it certainly renders it more savoury 



and palatable. It is the common breakfast of the 



peasants in Bavaria; and it is infinitely preferable, in 



all respects, to that most pernicious wash, tea, with 



which the lower classes of the inhabitants of this island 



drench their stomachs, and ruin their constitutions. 



When tea is mixed with a sufficient quantity of 



sugar and good cream ; when it is taken with a large 



quantity of bread and butter, or with toast and boiled 



eggs ; and, above all, when it is not drunk too hot, 



it is certainly less unwholesome ; but a simple infusion 



of this drug, drunk boiling hot, as the poor usually take 



it, is certainly a poison which, though it is sometimes 



slow in its operation, never fails to produce very fatal 



effects, even in the strongest constitution, where the 



free use of it is continued for a considerable length 



of time. 



Of Rye Bread. 



The prejudice in this island against bread made of 

 rye is the more extraordinary, as in many parts of the 

 country no other kind of bread is used, and as the 

 general use of it in many parts of Europe, for ages, has 

 proved it to be perfectly wholesome. In those coun- 

 tries where it is in common use, many persons prefer 

 it to bread made of the best wheat-flour ; and though 

 wheaten bread is commonly preferred to it, yet I am 

 persuaded that the general dislike of it, where it is not 

 much in use, is more owing to its being badly prepared, 

 or not well baked, than to any thing else. 



As an account of some experiments upon baking rye 

 bread, which were made under my immediate care and 

 inspection in the bake-house of the House of Industry 

 at Munich, may perhaps be of use to those who wish 



